UK Court Freezes £6M In Assets Belonging to Craig Wright

A UK court presided over by Judge James Mellor has granted a worldwide freezing order (‘WFO’) for £6 million on an application brought by the Crypto Open Patent Alliance (‘COPA’) against Craig Wright.

Judge Mellor’s action is to prevent Craig Wright, a controversial figure in the cryptocurrency space, from potentially evading court-ordered financial obligations. The case which was instituted by COPA is challenging Wright’s widely disputed claims of being Satoshi Nakamoto, the elusive inventor of Bitcoin.

Judge Mellor’s Concerns over Asset Dissipation

In his earlier judgment, Judge Mellor’s decision not only counters Wright’s assertions but also concludes that he did not author the Bitcoin white paper or the initial versions of the Bitcoin Source Code.

Following that ruling, Wright attempted to transfer shares of his RCJBR Holding Company to a Singapore-based entity, DeMorgan. This raised suspicion about potential asset dissipation. Drawing on Wright’s history of defaulting on payment orders, Judge Mellor expressed genuine concerns that Wright might seek to evade his financial obligations associated with the case.

Prohibitive Legal Fees Accumulate 

Therefore, the freezing order is to prevent Wright from transferring £6 million of his assets offshore. This will safeguard funds that could be used to cover the approximately £6.7 million in costs associated with the legal proceedings.

Experts insist that legal fees can be very prohibitive with reference made to the FTX bankruptcy case where the legal team charged an average of $1800 per hour and earned up to $1.5 million in fees per day

Craig Wright: Allegations of Forgery and Deception

The legal tussle between COPA and Craig Wright has brought to light extensive allegations of document forgery. COPA is accusing Wright of fabricating evidence to support his claim of being Satoshi Nakamoto. 

In COPA’s closing submission, it outlined allegations of deception on an “extraordinary scale,” suggesting that Wright had invented a false biographical history and produced forged documents to substantiate his claims.

Moreover, the latest investigations that seek to challenge Wright’s assertion of being the sole creator of Bitcoin have provided other evidence suggesting that Satoshi Nakamoto may actually be a collective entity. A tell-tale sign of that is the use of both “we” and “I” in the Bitcoin white paper. Experts say it hints at the possibility of a team operating under a singular pseudonym. This has further cast doubts on Wright’s claims.